Ellora Buddhist Cave 11 Answers to the Name Do Taal and to Vajrapani

Summary: Ellora Buddhist Cave 11 accepts Do Taal as moniker even though it adds up to three levels and powerful Vajrapani as protector in Maharashtra, India.

sculpture of protector bodhisattva Vajrapani (right), with vajra (thunderbolt) in his upraised right hand; Sunday, March 5, 2017, 01:08: Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Ellora Buddhist Cave 11 in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India, accounts for three levels, even as its moniker Do Taal only acknowledges two, and allies with powerful Vajrapani as guide and protector.

The eleventh cave from the southern entrance to the 800- to 1,600-year-old Ellora Caves bears among its sculpted artwork compassionate Padmapani, mass-enlightening Buddha and powerful Vajrapani. The bodhisattva Vajrapani (from Sanskrit बोधि, "enlightenment" and सत्त्व, "sentient being"; and वज्र, "diamond, thunderbolt" and पाणि, "in hand") communicates all the power of every Buddha. He demonstrates that powerfulness as guide and protector of Siddhartha Gautama (from Sanskrit सिद्धार्थ, "successful" and गौतम, "light [dispels] darkness"; 624?-544 B.C.E.?) enlightened as Gautama Buddha.

Vajrapani as protector bodhisattva expresses the power of each and every Buddha (from Sanskrit बुद्ध, "awakened") and wisdom of each and every Wisdom King.

Ellora Buddhist Cave 11 features Vajrapani with Gautama Buddha, with Padmapani (from Sanskrit पद्म, "lotus" and पाणि, "holder") instead of Avalokitesvara and without wise bodhisattva Manjusri.

Manjusri (from Sanskrit मञ्जुश्री, "gentle glory") and Vajrapani gather sometimes with compassionate Avalokitesvara (from Sanskrit अवलोकितेश्वर, "watchful lord"), sometimes with compassionate Padmapani. Avalokitesvara, Manjusri, Padmapani and Vajrapani altogether and individually harbor the wisdoms of First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Wisdom Kings Akshobhya, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava and Vairocana. Akshobhya (from Sanskrit अक्षोभ्य, "immovable") of the East, First Wisdom King, impels the consciousness wisdom of the Buddha against the spiritual poisons of anger and hatred.

Amitabha (from Sanskrit अमिताभ, "infinite light") of the West, Second Wisdom King, joins to the other four the compassion wisdom of the Buddha against desires and selfishness.

Itinerant artisans under Rashtrakuta (from Sanskrit राष्ट्रकूट, "country chieftain") dynasts (753?-982?) perhaps kindled virtuous, wise pilgrims passersby through compassionate, mass-enlightening artwork in Ellora Buddhist Cave 11.

Amoghasiddhi (from Sanskrit अमोघ, "infallible" and सिद्धि, "action") of the North, Third Wisdom King, loosens the wisdom of accomplished actions against spiritually poisonous envy and jealousy. Ratnasambhava (from Sanskrit रत्नसंभव, "jewel-born") of the South, Fourth Wisdom King, masters the wisdom of richness for mustering against the spiritual poisons of greed and pride. Vairocana (from Sanskrit वैरोचन, "solar") of the Center, Fifth Wisdom King, nourishes the wisdom of emptiness and never nurtures the spiritual poisons of delusions and doubts.

Do Taal offered pilgrim passersby two levels, each with enshrined, sculpted Buddha, Padmapani, Vajrapani trios, before the 1876 excavations and three levels after the 1877 excavations. Ellora Buddhist Cave 11 possesses a lowest-level, 102-foot- (31.09-meter-) long, 9-foot- (0.31-meter-) wide verandah with one shrine, one stairway and two cells since the 1876-1877 excavations.

The present second-level, previous first-level verandah quarters eight square pillars, one unfinished cell and one shrine sculpted with an enthroned Buddha, waterjar-bearing females and the trio. Its back wall and its north end respectively reveal three cells all whose carvings sport Gautama Buddha sculpted with his attendants and the verandah stairway upward. One shrine never started, even as two shrines with four-armed Padmapani, lotus-bud bearers, small-sized Buddha and the compassionate, mass-enlightening trio share present third-story, previous second-story space.

Perhaps pilgrim traders traveled through threatening, traumatizing, troubling territories to Ellora Buddhist Cave 11 for tranquil takeaways of trusting in the powerfully compassionate, mass-enlightening sculpted trio.

front view of three levels of Ellora Buddhist Cave 11; Sunday, March 5, 2017, 00:47: Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

sculpture of protector bodhisattva Vajrapani (right), with vajra (thunderbolt) in his upraised right hand; Sunday, March 5, 2017, 01:08: Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:034_Cave_11,_Buddhas_and_Bodhiattvas_(34154390765).jpg; Anandajoti Bhikkhu (Anandajoti Bhikkhu), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/anandajoti/34154390765/

front view of three levels of Ellora Buddhist Cave 11; Sunday, March 5, 2017, 00:47: Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:023_Cave_11,_Front_View_(33769518090).jpg; Anandajoti Bhikkhu (Anandajoti Bhikkhu), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/anandajoti/33769518090/

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Last Quarter Sunday, Nov. 8, Shows Apollo 14’s Mare Cognitum

Summary: The lunar last quarter Sunday, Nov. 8, shows Apollo 14’s Mare Cognitum as the right side of the Man in the Moon’s mouth for Northern Hemisphere viewers.

Oblique, north-looking view, photographed January 1971 from Apollo 16 Command Service Module Caspter, shows Apollo 14 landing site (white arrow; upper center), Fra Mauro Crater (center), Bonpland Crater (bottom center) and Parry Crater (lower right); American astronomers Guy Consolmagno and Dan M. Davis describe the Mauro-Bonpland-Parry configuration as somewhat resembling Mickey Mouse’s face and ears “with the ears too close” (page 35) in their 2013 night sky guide, Turn Left at Orion; NASA image AS16-M-1420; H. Masursky et al., Apollo Over the Moon: A View From Orbit (1978), Chapter 3, figure 44, page 56: Public Domain, via NASA

The moon’s last quarter Sunday, Nov. 8, shows Apollo 14’s Mare Cognitum as the right side of the Man in Moon’s mouth for Northern Hemisphere moonwatchers.

The month’s last quarter phase begins Sunday, Nov. 8, at 13:46 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (8:46 a.m. Eastern Standard Time), according to retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak’s AstroPixels website. The last quarter succeeds the waning gibbous phase, which offers greater surface illumination of the moon’s near side as the intermediate phase between the full phase’s 100 percent illumination and the last quarter’s 50 percent illumination.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 14 mission safely landed Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (Nov. 18, 1923-July 21, 1998) and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell as the fifth and sixth persons to set foot on the moon. Apollo Lunar Module Antares touched down Friday, Feb. 5, 1971, at 09:18:11 Universal Time (4:18 a.m. EST), northeast of Mare Cognitum.

Mare Cognitum occupies the southwestern quadrant of the moon’s near side. It is centered at minus 10.53 degrees south latitude, minus 22.31 degrees west longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. As a southern hemisphere lava plain, Mare Cognitum’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach minus 5.9 degrees south and minus 13.92 degrees south, respectively. As a western hemisphere mare, the dark plain’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to minus 16.45 degrees west and minus 28.1 degrees west, respectively. Mare Cognitum’s diameter measures 350.01 kilometers.

British lunar astronomer Ewen Adair Whitaker (June 22, 1922-Oct. 11, 2016) described Mare Cognitum as a “comparatively small, unnamed dark area . . . largely surrounded by bright hills” (page 51) in his 1985 history of the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Whitaker credited Dutch-American planetary scientist and selenographer Gerard Peter Kuiper (Dec. 7, 1905-Dec. 23, 1973) with suggested names of Mare Cognitum (Sea That Has Become Known; Sea of Knowledge) or Mare Exploratum (Explored Sea) for the dark oval on Friday, Aug. 28, 1964, at the IAU’s XII General Assembly. Held in Hamburg, Germany, from Wednesday, Aug. 26, to Wednesday, Sept. 2, the Hamburg Congress approved Mare Cognitum.

Lunar Module Antares settled in the Fra Mauro Formation. Also known as the Fra Mauro Highlands, the formation comprises ejecta from the impact that formed the lunar northwestern quadrant’s Imbrium Basin. The Universities Space Research Association’s (USRA) Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) describes the landing site as “located in a broad, shallow valley between radial ridges of the Fra Mauro Formation and approximately 500 kilometers from the edge of the Imbrium Basin. The formation takes its name from the valley’s bowl-shaped Fra Mauro Crater.

Antares touched down about 30 miles (49.3 kilometers) north of the Fra Mauro Crater, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s website.

The Fra Mauro site had originally been targeted for the Apollo 14 mission’s predecessor, Apollo 13. Launched Saturday, April 11, 1970, from Florida’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, Apollo 13 suffered an oxygen tank explosion Tuesday, April 14, in the mission’s Command Service Module, Odyssey, halfway to the moon. The aborted mission ended with the safe return of the mission’s three astronauts, Commander James Arthur Lovell Jr. (born March 25, 1928), Command Module Pilot John “Jack” Leonard Swigert Jr. (Aug. 30, 1931-Dec. 27, 1982) and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Wallace Haise Jr. (born Nov. 14, 1933), to Earth on Friday, April 17.

Fra Mauro Crater is centered at minus 6.06 degrees south latitude, minus 16.97 degrees west longitude. The southern hemisphere crater’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes are recorded at minus 4.47 degrees south and minus 7.66 degrees south, respectively. As a western hemisphere crater, its easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to minus 15.37 degrees west and minus 18.58 degrees west, respectively. Described by USRA LPI as “subdued and partially filled,” Fra Mauro Crater records a diameter of 96.76 kilometers.

Fra Mauro Crater’s namesake was 15th-century Venetian cartographer and monk Fra Mauro. The International Astronomical Union approved the name in 1935.

The takeaway for the last quarter’s Nov. 8 showing of Apollo 14’s Mare Cognitum is that the fifth and sixth humans to set foot on the moon landed northeast of the dark, oval lava plain that forms the right side of the Man in the Moon’s mouth for Northern Hemisphere moonwatchers.

LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) image of Apoll0 14 landing site shows Lunar Module Antares descent stage and, to the west, the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP); paths between the two sites were left by astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell during the mission’s two extravehicular activities; LROC NAC M168319885LR; via NASA

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Oblique, north-looking view, photographed January 1971 from Apollo 16 Command Service Module Caspter, shows Apollo 14 landing site (white arrow; upper center), Fra Mauro Crater (center), Bonpland Crater (bottom center) and Parry Crater (lower right); American astronomers Guy Consolmagno and Dan M. Davis describe the Mauro-Bonpland-Parry configuration as somewhat resembling Mickey Mouse’s face and ears “with the ears too close” (page 35) in their 2013 night sky guide, Turn Left at Orion; NASA image AS16-M-1420; H. Masursky et al., Apollo Over the Moon: A View From Orbit (1978), Chapter 3, figure 44, page 56: Public Domain, via NASA @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-362/ch3.2.htm; via Apollo Image Archive @ https://apollo.sese.asu.edu/LIW/20090407.html

LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) image of Apoll0 14 landing site shows Lunar Module Antares descent stage and, to the west, the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP); paths between the two sites were left by astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell during the mission’s two extravehicular activities; LROC NAC M168319885LR; via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/lro-briefing-20110906.html

For further information:

Calendar-12.com. “Moon Phases November 2020.” Calendar-12.com > 2020 Moon Calendar.
Available @ https://www.calendar-12.com/moon_calendar/2020/november

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Espenak, Fred. “Phases of the Moon: 2001 to 2020 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).” AstroPixels > Ephemeris > Moon > Phases of the Moon From 2001 to 2100.
Available @ http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/phases2001gmt.html

International Astronomical Union. “XII IAU Hamburg 1964.” Daily News Bulletin, Wednesday, Aug. 26, to Wednesday, Sept. 2, 1964. Hamburg, Germany: Lütcke & Wulff, 1964.
Available via IAU publications @ https://www.iau.org/static/publications/ga_newspapers/19640826.pdf

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Fra Mauro.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2007

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Mare Cognitum.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3670

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Mare Imbrium.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3678

King, Bob. “How to See All Six Apollo Moon Landing Sites.” Sky & Telescope > Observing. April 22, 2015.
Available @ https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/how-to-see-all-six-apollo-moon-landing-sites/

King, Bob. “How to See Lunar Craters With the Naked Eye.” Sky & Telescope > Observing. Oct. 28, 2015.
Available @ https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/how-to-see-lunar-craters-with-the-naked-eye102820152810/

King, Bob. Night Sky With the Naked Eye. Salem MA: Page Street Publishing Co., 2016.

Lawrence, Samuel. “Trail of Discovery at Fra Mauro.” NASA ASU (Arizona State University) LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera). Aug, 19, 2009.
Available @ http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/105

Lawver, Jordan. “Precise 3D Measurements of Objects at Apollo 14 Landing Site From LROC NAC Stereo Images.” NASA ASU (Arizona State University) LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera). Jan. 29, 2010.
Available @ http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/29
Available via NASA LRO @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20100129-apollo14.html

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Lovell, Jim; and Jeffrey Kluger. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Lunar Planetary Institute. “Apollo 14 Mission: Landing Site Overview.” USRA (Universities Space Research Association) Lunar Planetary Institute (LPI) > The Moon > Lunar Mission Summaries > Apollo Missions.
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_14/landing_site/

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 13 Saturn IVB Third Stage Crashed North of Mare Cognitum.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, April 29, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/apollo-13-saturn-ivb-third-stage.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 13’s Lost Lunar Landing Aimed for April 15 at Fra Mauro Crater.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/apollo-13s-lost-lunar-landing-aimed-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “First October 2020 Full Moon Shows Apollo 11’s Mare Tranquillitatis.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/09/first-october-2020-full-moon-shows.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “First Quarter Friday, Oct. 23, Shows Apollo 16’s Descartes Highlands.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/10/first-quarter-friday-oct-23-shows.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Last Quarter Saturday, Oct. 10, Shows Apollo 12’s Oceanus Procellarum.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/10/last-quarter-saturday-oct-10-shows.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “October’s Blue Moon Saturday, Oct. 31, Shows Apollo 15’s Mare Imbrium.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/09/first-space-spiders-arabella-and-anita.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Six Lunar Maria Shape the Man in the Moon for Northern Hemisphere Viewers.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 3, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/05/six-lunar-maria-shape-man-in-moon-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Waxing Crescent Wednesday, Oct. 21, Shows Apollo 17’s Mare Serenitatis.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/10/waxing-crescent-wednesday-oct-21-shows.html

Masek, Jeffrey G.; and Laura Rocchio, cur. “Fra Mauro’s Mappamundi.” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Landsat Science > Education > Feature. Last updated July 1, 2019.
Available @ https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/fra-mauros-mappamundi/

Masursky, Harold; G.W. Colton; and Farouk El-Baz. “Chapter 2: Regional Views.” Apollo Over the Moon: A View From the Orbit: 30-43. NASA SP-362. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/contents.htm

NASA Johnson Space Center / Arizona State University. “Featured Image  04/07/2009 The Fra Mauro Formation.” NASA JSC (Johnson Space Center) ASU (Arizona State University) Apollo Image Archive.
Available @ http://apollo.sese.asu.edu/LIW/20090407.html

Neal-Jones, Nancy. “LRO Briefing: Latest Images of Apollo Landing Sites.” NASA > Missions > LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) > News. Sept. 6, 2011.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/lro-briefing-20110906.html

Neal-Jones, Nancy; Elizabeth Zubritsky; and Steve Cole. “NASA Spacecraft Images Offer Sharper Views of Apollo Landing Sites.” NASA > Missions > LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) > News. Sept. 5, 2011. Last updated Aug. 7, 2017.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.html

Ridpath, Ian; and Wil Tirion. Stars & Planets: The Complete Guide to the Stars, Constellations, and the Solar System. Updated and expanded edition. Princeton NJ; Oxford UK: Princeton University Press, 2017.

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 14: Facts.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 14.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo14-facts.cfm

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 14 Landing Site.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 14.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo15-landing-site.cfm

Sutton, R.L. (Robert Leeds); M.H. (Mortimer Hall "Tim") Hait; and G.A. (Gordon Alfred) Swann. “Geology of the Apollo 14 Landing Site.” Proceedings of the Lunar Science Conference (Supplement 3, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta), vol. 1: 27-38. M.I.T. Press, 1972.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1972LPSC....3...27S

Time and Date. “The Third Quarter / Half Moon.” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Moon.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/third-quarter.html

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Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/aboutmoonphases.html

U.S. Geological Survey. Color-Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Map of the Lunar Near Side and Far Side Hemispheres. U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2769. Page last modified Nov. 30, 2016. Flagstaff AZ: U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, 2003.
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U.S.N.O. Astronomical Applications Department. “Fraction of the Moon Illuminated, 2020 at Midnight.” U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department > Astronomical Information Center > Phenomena of the Sun and Moon > Phases of the Moon and Percent of the Moon Illuminated.
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U.S.N.O. Astronomical Applications Department. “Phases of the Moon and Percent of the Moon Illuminated.” U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department > Astronomical Information Center > Phenomena of the Sun and Moon.
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Williams, David R.; and E. (Edwin) Bell II, cur. “Apollo 14 Lunar Module / ALSEP.” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center > Solar System Exploration > The Moon > Lunar Exploration > Precise Positions of LM’s and Science Experiments on the Moon. Last updated March 6, 2017.
Available @ https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1971-008C

Met Opera Opened Lohengrin Nov. 7, 1883, as Seventh First Season Opera

Summary: Met Opera opened Lohengrin Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1883, as the first season's seventh premiere.

Emmy Fursch-Madi made her Met Opera debut as Ortrud in the Metropolitan Opera's first season performances of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin; portrait of Emmy Fursch-Madi in The Marie Burroughs Art Portfolio of Stage Celebrities (1894): Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

Met Opera opened Lohengrin Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1883, as the seventh premiere in the opera company's first season lineup of 20 operas.

The three-act romantic opera (opera romantica in tre atti) by German Romantic era composer-librettist Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883) received eight performances, sung in Italian, in Met Opera's inaugural season, 1883-1884. Lohengrin's Wednesday, Nov. 7, premiere, second (Monday, Nov. 12), third (Saturday, Nov. 17) and fourth (Saturday, Dec. 1) performances were staged at the Metropolitan Opera House. The fifth performance, Thursday, Jan. 3, 1884, was held at the Boston Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. The sixth performance, Wednesday, Jan. 23, took place at Haverly's Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The seventh performance, Wednesday, April 2, took place at the Metropolitan Opera House. The eighth, closing performance, Saturday, April 19, was offered at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Auguste Vianesi (Nov. 2, 1837-Nov. 4, 1908) conducted all eight of the season's performances of Lohengrin. The French-naturalized, northwestern Italy-born conductor had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Oct. 22, 1883, in the season's inaugural premiere, Faust by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Italo Campanini (June 30, 1845-Nov. 14, 1896) sang the title role of in all eight performances. The Italian operatic tenor had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Oct. 22, 1883, in the title role in the season's inaugural premiere, Gounod's Faust.

Christine Nilsson (Aug. 20, 1843-Nov. 20, 1921) appeared in all eight performances as Elsa, who has been falsely accused of murder. The Swedish operatic soprano had made her Met Opera debut Monday, Oct. 22, 1883, as Marguerite in the season's first premiere, Gounod's Faust.

Emmy Fursch-Madi (1847-Sept. 21, 1894) appeared in all performances as Ortrud, a pagan witch married to Telramund, Elsa's accuser. The French operatic soprano's premiere appearance Wednesday, Nov. 7, marked her Met Opera debut.

Giuseppe Kaschmann (July 14, 1850-Feb. 11, 1925) appeared in all performances as Telramund, who accuses Elsa of murder and who schemes to discover Lohengrin's true identity. The Croatian-Austrian operatic baritone had made his Met Opera debut Wednesday, Oct. 24, as Enrico in the season's second premiere, Lucia di Lammermoor by Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

Franco Novara (1859-Jan. 7, 1899) appeared in all performances as King Heinrich, whose presence in the dukedom has been occasioned by the disappearance of Elsa's younger brother. English bass Francis Naish, whose stage name was Franco Novara, had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Oct. 22, 1883, as Méphistophélès in the season's first premiere, Gounod's Faust.

Ludovico Contini appeared as the Herald in all eight performances. He had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Oct. 22, 1883, as Wagner in the season's inaugural premiere, Gounod's Faust.

The Metropolitan Opera's inaugural production of Lohengrim was directed by Mr. Abbiati and Mr. Corani (Henry De Courtney Corani, ca. 1849-May 1905). Sets for Lohengrin were designed by Charles Fox, Jr., William Schaeffer, Gaspar Maeder (ca. 1840-Jan. 18, 1892) and Mr. Thompson. Costumes were designed by Henry Dazian (May 3, 1854-May 4, 1937) and D. Ascoli. The director and their team had made their Met Opera debuts Monday, Oct. 22, 1883, in the opera house's inaugural premiere, Gounod's Faust.

Lohengrin premiered Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1883, as the seventh of the first season's 20 operas. La Sonnambula, by 19th century Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini (Nov. 3, 1801-Sept. 23, 1835), opened one week later, on Wednesday, Nov. 14, as the first season's eighth premiere.

The takeaways for Met Opera's Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1883, premiere of Wagner's Lohengrim are that the three-act romantic opera (opera romantica in tre atti) numbered as the seventh opera in the 20-opera lineup offered in Met Opera's first season, 1883-1884; that Italian tenor Italo Campanini originated the title role at Met Opera; and that Swedish operatic soprano Christine Nilsson originated the Met Opera role of Elsa.

Swedish operatic soprano Christine (Christina) Nilsson originated the role of Wagner's Elsa at the Metropolitan Opera in the opera house's first season, 1883-1884; ca. 1870 photograph of Christine Nilsson; Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.: No known restrictions on publication, via LOC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Emmy Fursch-Madi made her Met Opera debut as Ortrud in the Metropolitan Opera's first season performances of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin; portrait of Emmy Fursch-Madi in The Marie Burroughs Art Portfolio of Stage Celebrities (1894): Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/marieburroughsar00chic/page/n286/mode/1up

Swedish operatic soprano Christine (Christina) Nilsson originated the role of Wagner's Elsa at the Metropolitan Opera in the opera house's first season, 1883-1884; ca. 1870 photograph of Christine Nilsson; Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.: No known restrictions on publication, via LOC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004682156/

For further information:

"Debut: Emmy Fursch-Madi." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 1090 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Lohengrin {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/7/1883.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=1020

"Debuts: Italo Campanini, Christine Nilsson, Franco Novara, Giuseppe Del Puente, Sofia Scalchi, Louise Lablache, Ludovico Contini, Auguste Vianesi, Mr. Corani, Mr. Abbiati, Charles Fox, Jr., William Schaeffer, Gaspar Maeder, Mr. Thompson, D. Ascoli, Henry Dazian." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID:1000 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Faust {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/22/1883. Metropolitan Opera Premiere Opening Night {1}.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=1000

"Debuts: Marcella Sembrich, Giuseppe Kaschmann, Achille Augier, Amadeo Grazzi, Imogene Forti, Vincenzo Fornaris." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 1010 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Lucia di Lammermoor {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/24/1883.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=1010

The Marie Burroughs Art Portfolio of Stage Celebrities. A Collection of Photographs of the Leaders of Dramatic and Lyric Art. Chicago : A.N. Marquis & Company, 1894.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101073370700
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/marieburroughsar00chic/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Metropolitan Opera Premiered 20 Operas During Opening Season 1883-1884." Earth and Space News. Monday, Sept. 14, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/10/metropolitan-opera-premiered-20-operas.html

"Metropolitan Opera Premiere Lohengrin." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 1090 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Lohengrin {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/7/1883.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=1090

Rous, Samuel Holland. The Victrola Book of the Opera: Stories of One Hundred and Twenty Operas With Seven-Hundred Illustrations and Descriptions of Twelve-Hundred Victor Opera Records. Fourth revised edition. Camden NJ: Victor Talking Machine Company, 1917.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/victrolabookofop00vict

Swift River Cruiser Dragonfly Habitats: Dark Body, Green Eyes, Yellow Mark

Summary: North American swift river cruiser dragonfly habitats get dark bodies with green eyes and with yellow rings, spots, stripes, tips and triangles.

swift river cruiser dragonfly, also known as Illinois River cruiser (Macroma illinoiensis); Conway County, central Arkansas; Friday, July 7, 2006: pondhawk, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

North American swift river cruiser dragonfly habitats accommodate cultivators with accessible irrigation and naturalists with distribution ranges from Nova Scotia through Florida, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Alberta, Quebec and everywhere in-between.

Swift river cruisers bear their common name for fast-flying, river-patrolling males and the scientific name Macromia illinoiensis (equally long [as the largest dragonflies] Illinois [type specimen]). The subspecies' common name Illinois river cruiser and scientific name Macromia illinoiensis illinoiensis confirm classifications in 1862 by Benjamin Dann Walsh (Sept. 21, 1808-Nov. 18, 1869). The second subspecies, Georgia river cruiser, scientifically Macromia illinoiensis georgina, derives from descriptions in 1878 by Michel Edmond Longchamps de Sélys (May 25, 1813-Dec. 11, 1900).

Swift river cruiser life cycles expect northern, open lakes and clean to muddy southern rivers and streams with slow to swift currents with or without rocks.

March through November function as earliest to latest flight seasons even though July through August furnish wildlife mapping opportunities throughout coastal and inland North American niches.

Females and males go from dawn to dusk even on cloudy days, along paths, roads and shorelines over fields and water and through canopies and clearings. They harbor fast, steady wingbeats mornings and fluttering raised wings afternoons and hunt high up in mixed-species swarms or low down after clouds of flying insects. Black legs and lower lips imprison prey before and subsequent to adults perching perpendicularly and roosting high in the treetops and low in bushes and shrubs.

Ants, assassin flies, biting midges, ducks, falcons, fish, flycatchers, frogs, grebes, lizards, spiders, turtles and water beetles and mites jeopardize North American swift river cruiser habitats.

Immature swift river cruisers keep to amber-winged, dull-colored, flat-bodied, long-legged, spiny forms and low size ranges even though adults know bright blacks, browns, greens and yellows.

Incompletely metamorphosing life cycles lead from green, round eggs laid at high speeds over stream riffles to multi-molting, nonflying larvae, naiads or nymphs and to tenerals. Molted, shiny-winged, soft-bodied, weak-flying tenerals mature physically and sexually before mating high up in treetops and females manipulating eggs into ovipositing sites at 2-plus-yard (1.82-meter) intervals. Aphids, beetles, borers, caddisflies, copepods, crane flies, dobsonflies, gnats, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, rotifers, scuds, water fleas and worms nourish river cruiser members of the Macromiidae cruiser family.

North American swift river cruiser habitats offer season-coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 45 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.11 to minus 6.66 degrees Celsius).

Beech, bellflower, birch, bladderwort, cattail, daisy, grass, greenbrier, heath, laurel, madder, maple, nettle, olive, pine, pondweed, rush, sedge, water-lily and willow families promote swift river cruisers.

Brown faces and heads; double-spotted foreheads; green eyes; side-striped yellow-lined brown thoraxes; broken-ringed, brown abdomens with paired triangles and yellow-spotted tips qualify as northern adult hallmarks. Southern adults reveal green eyes on yellow-crossbanded, yellow-spotted black faces; green-black thoraxes with upward-striped fronts and wide-striped sides; yellow-ringed black abdomens with paired triangles and spots. Adults show off 2.56- to 2.76-inch (65- to 79-millimeter) head-body lengths, 1.85- to 2.21-inch (47- to 56-millimeter) abdomens and 1.58- to 2.09-inch (40- to 53-millimeter) hindwings.

Small- versus large-spotted, dull versus bright-colored, unclubbed versus clubbed and variable versus same-sized, brown versus black-bodied, front-striped versus none tell females from males, northerners from southerners.

swift river cruiser dragonfly (Macromia illinoiensis) in flight; Monday, Aug. 31, 2015, 14:23:45: Melissa McMasters (cricketsblog), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

swift river cruiser dragonfly, also known as Illinois River cruiser (Macroma illinoiensis); Conway County, central Arkansas; Friday, July 7, 2006: pondhawk, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/38686613@N08/4747956094/

swift river cruiser dragonfly (Macromia illinoiensis) in flight; Monday, Aug. 31, 2015, 14:23:45: Melissa McMasters (cricketsblog), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/cricketsblog/21068628835/

For further information:

Abbott, John C. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Princeton NJ; Oxford UK: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Beaton, Giff. Dragonflies & Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast. Athens GA; London UK: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Berger, Cynthia. Dragonflies. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books: Wild Guide, 2004.

Bright, Ethan. "Macromia illinoiensis Walsh, 1862: 397 - Swift River Cruiser (syn.) Marcomia australensis Williamson, 1909: 377)." Aquatic Insects of Michigan > Odonata (Dragon- and Damselflies) of Michigan > Anisoptera Selys, 1854 - Dragonflies > Macromiidae, Tillyard, 1917 (River Cruisers) > Macromia Rambur, 1842 (River Crusiers).
Available @ http://www.aquaticinsects.org/sp/Odonata/sp_oom.html

"Macromia illinoiensis." James Cook University-Medusa: The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies > Anisoptera > Macromiidae > Macromia.
Available via James Cook University-Medusa @ https://medusa.jcu.edu.au/Dragonflies/openset/displaySpecies.php?spid=704

Paulson, Dennis. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2011.

Sélys-Longchamps, M. Edm. (Michel Edmond) de. "Secondes Additions au Synopsis des Cordulines: 57 bis. Epophthalmia georgina, De Selys." Bulletin de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et les Beaux-Arts de Belgique, quarante-septième année (série 2), tome XLV, no. 3 (séance du 2 mars 1878): 197-198. Bruxelles (Brussels), Belgium: F. Hayez, MDCCCLXXVIII (1878).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5689166
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924106526449?urlappend=%3Bseq=207

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Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Walsh, Benjamin D. (Dann). "List of the Pseudoneuroptera of Illinois, Contained in the Cabinet of the Writer, With Descriptions of Over Forty New Species, and Notes on Their Structural Affinities: Macromia illinoiensis, n.sp." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. XIIII: 397-398. Philadelphia PA: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1862.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1951869
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015035553265?urlappend=%3Bseq=409
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/jstor-4059488/4059488#page/n37/mode/1up

Walter Sanford ‏@Geodialist. "Macromia illinoiensis exuvia." Twitter. March 15, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Geodialist/status/841938170308644864